My first night back in Cairo after my tour was spent in the Wake UP! Cairo Hostel. That night I met two people from Germany, Alf and Gerrit, who were traveling around Cairo, then to Jordan and Israel. After a night or two of discussions we decided to head north to Alexandria for a day trip together, and then that night take a night bus east to the beach town of Dahab. They would then head to Jordan while I decided if I wanted to stay in Dahab longer or join them.
We left our big backpacks in the hostel and took our day bags to the Cairo Ramses Train Station. We ended up getting 2nd class seats as no 1st class were available. Our fears were negated however as the train, while not luxurious, was enough for our needs and the two and a half hour trip to Alexandria. The time passed without incident from Cairo to Alexandria. We arrived and felt we needed to immediately purchase return tickets back to Cairo that night. We went straight to the ticket counter and asked for tickets. The attendant started to type in the information into the Stone Age computer, and then informed us the computer system had crashed. We would need to wait until it came back up before we could by our tickets. So we waited. More people arrived, ready to buy tickets. Soon all five ticket booths were full with people waiting in line to buy. We waited and took shifts at the counter due to the heat and suffocating air with so many bodies packed together. I took first shift and struck up a conversation with a local man from Alexandria. We chatted amiacably about his family and work, and my trip. He helped me out translating what was being said and keeping me abreast of the situation. Gerrit took the next shift. Then Alf. After an hour the computers came back online, but they were only able to purchase tickets for the next day, not today. We were wasting precious time since we wanted to be back on a train at 7:00PM and it was already nearing 1:00PM. We decided to just take off and come back later, hoping the system would be back up and tickets would still be available.
We walked from the train station for roughly a mile before we hit the coast. We then turned right and headed for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, more commonly known as the new Alexandrian Library. We stopped at a cafe for about half an hour for drinks and food before continuing on our way. The heat, even here up north of Cairo, was intense.
We neared the Library and subconsciously our steps slowed. The massive building loomed before us, an impressive site. Eager to get in (air conditioning!) we headed to purchase tickets and then made our way inside to the main reading room. We were indeed impressed. We wandered around inside just soaking in this incredible architectural feat of a library. Alf and Gerrit suggested I try to create a panoramic image of the inside so I headed up to a good location to take pictures while they continued to wander around.
After thoroughly checking out the main reading room we explored the other parts of the building, including free exhibition rooms containing art and sculptures. When we were saturated with the place (more like it was time to make our way back and get the train tickets for Cairo) we exited the Libarary and made our way across the street to a wonderful cafe overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We enjoyed some drinks, watched crabs clamber about the rocks, listened to the waves crash in, and enjoyed a nice conversation. We then dragged ourselves out of there since we had to get back and then went on foot back towards the train station. Half way back we stopped at a restaurant Gerrit wanted to eat at and had some delicious felafel, humus, and bread. We then made our way back to the train station, purchased tickets back to Cairo since the computers were back up, and hopped on the train for our 2 1/2 hour trip back.
We got to Cairo a bit later than we thought, and it was a mad dash to get back to the hostel, pick up our bags, and then go to the bus station via taxi so that we could catch the 11:45PM night bus to Dahab.
